


Gravity

by wendysbear



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, ceo!gahyeon, company au, editor!bora, is it enemies to lovers if it's not slow burn?, mature for curse words and heavy content, more characters will be added as it goes, they're all adults, translator!dong
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-18 00:46:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29725749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendysbear/pseuds/wendysbear
Summary: What destiny wants, destiny gets.Han Dong saw her life as a puzzle, in which every piece had something to do with a woman named Kim Bora. Ever since the first snow Dong has ever seen, to every step along the way, Bora seemed to find her way into Dong's life.And now, when Dong finally gets a job at a publisher, five years finishing university and dealing with horrible jobs and bosses, Bora is also there.Hoping for peace at this new job (which, yes, she did hope for) had become impossible, because not only has Bora been around all her life, but also Bora has hated her from the moment they met.But, even with all the hate and fights, Dong knew one thing: Bora would run away from her eventually. Dong hoped to change the pattern this time. Either Dong would be the one to leave, or she'd make Bora stay.
Relationships: Han Dong | Handong/Kim Bora | SuA
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18
Collections: DreamCatcher Enemies To Lovers Ficfest 2k21





	1. Meet Ugly

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my first time posting for a ficfest and i have butterflies in my stomach while posting this. Hopefully you'll enjoy it? Please, if you may, give me feedback, it'd be a sweet delight!
> 
> Good reading!

_ It could be worse. You could be unemployed, right? This job pays the bills, unlike all those dreams you have. Just face it. Dreaming doesn’t pay rent, it doesn’t feed you nor your cat, and it can easily end up with you back under your parents’ roof. Is that what you want, Han Dong? Do you want to throw all those years of studying and working hard in the trash can because of your silly dreams of getting a job at something you actually studied for? Please, you’re– _

“Yah, stop that chinese talking, you’re gonna scare the customers.”

Dong opened and closed her mouth, watching one of her superiors look down at her. Being honest, she didn’t realize she was speaking out loud until he called her out, but still. Speaking a different language wouldn’t scare anyone, just the exact type of people she’d rather stay miles and miles away. Including that man.

A fake shy smile was what she gave him, instead of an answer. What would she say anyways? ‘Sorry, I was giving myself a pep talk before this job crushed all that was left of my hopes, dreams and personality, and it is easier for me to do that in my mother language’? It isn’t as if he’d care. Also smiling is what most men expect a woman to do. It’s easier to conform. Especially when you need the job.

Since the smile was there, she kept it on. Smiling to random people who’d come and ask for food Dong never ate (not because she didn’t have the money, but she saw who made them, and she was disgusted by it), gently wished them a happy day/night and wished for her shift to pass. Twelve hours. How could they expect her to survive twelve hours of waiting tables without pep talks in mandarin? That’s stupid.

“You’re letting them too deep under your skin,” Kahei’s voice spoke to her. “C’mon, their racist asses shouldn’t be bugging you to the point you came to my house instead of yours.”

“You live closer to hell," Dong said. Or tried to say. Her face was pressed against the cushion, since she threw her body on Kahei’s couch as soon as she entered the place.

“Maybe taking less shifts of twelve hours would do you some good.”

“But bills…” Dong’s voice dragged on. She moved sideways so she could see her best friend, while said best friend was in the kitchen making them tea. At least, Dong hoped it’d be tea.

“No new jobs?”

“They always say I’m ‘too qualified’ for any and everything. I still don’t know how the restaurant took me in, master degree and all.”

“Chamomile for both of us,” Kahei said, putting a mug in front of Dong, “so you gave up?”

Sighing, Dong sat up and took the mug in her hands, looking at the reflection on the tea. She could see the ceiling, an old lamp hanging, quite green from the looks of her beverage. She wished she could give up on searching for new jobs. It wasn’t rocket science: unhappy with the job, look for a new job that’ll make you less unhappy. And don’t stop until you find it. Another sigh.

“Can’t give up, no matter what. Do you think my parents would let me live on waitressing for the rest of my life? I don’t think I’d respect myself if I were to be a waitress for the rest of my life.” She scoffed, taking a small sip of her tea.

“Don’t be mean to waiter people,” Kahei crossed her legs under her, completely engulfed by the cushions on her pink armchair. From all the time Dong had spent in this place, she had never seen another person but Kahei sitting on that armchair, and she never dared herself to try it. Imagine leaving a mark on a pastel pink armchair that looked like its worth was at least one billion wons? Not on Dong’s wish list.

“Not trying to be. Just hating the fact that I’m one of them.”

“Have you tried talking to your classmates from university? It could get you somewhere.”

Dong nodded, finishing her tea. “Radio silence so far. Guess I’m on my own.”

“Then… Can I try?”

Dong blinked a few times. She knew Kahei had studied with some chaebols and that she knew lots of powerful people, but they had this silent agreement that they shouldn’t go for rich people because when people have a lot of money that immediately makes them evil. Well, at least most rich people were evil on Dong’s eyes. But there was something on Kahei’s gaze… as if she knew something… and suddenly Dong was scared of her best friend.

“Are you trying witchcraft? Because that’s too much of a stereotype. Chinese Witch Lady Living In An Old Apartment.” Dong tried to sound nonchalant but she knew Kahei could see right through her. Fuck fifteen years of friendship.

Kahei rolled her eyes (of course she would), uncrossing her legs and leaning her torso a little towards her friend.

“My girlfriend’s cousin knows a chaebol who’s a little younger than both of us that owns a whole publisher. For real. She’s the CEO. And, according to what my girlfriend’s cousin said, they’re in need of a head translator. Which is perfect for you!”

“Wait.” Dong raised one hand while putting the mug on the center table. “When were you going to tell me, you were dating?”

“Didn’t I tell you? Well, I’m dating this beautiful woman, thank you very much, she’s got shoulder length hair and bird eyes and I’m in love with her but she doesn’t know it yet. Anything else?”

“Her name, Wang Kahei, please.”

“Ah yes, her beautiful name, Jo Haseul.” Kahei’s smile was so bright and wide Dong almost swooned. Almost.

“So, your girlfriend, Jo Haseul, who probably comes from the kings and queens of this country, has chaebol connections?”

“Her cousin has. Pay attention.” Kahei snapped her fingers. “It’s a great opportunity! And you’re as chinese as they come, nobody will be able to say your translations are unreliable!”

“As a person who can speak three languages, you should know that there isn’t reliability in translation.”

“If you don’t want the job, just say it, for fuck’s sake.” Kahei went back to her comfortable position. “It’s a great chance. Haseul’s cousin said the CEO is having a bad time filling spots because of her age, since she’s barely twenty-five. But I don’t think you’d have any trouble with that, because we both know that a younger boss is better than a misogynist one. Or racist. Or both.”

Kahei’s mini rant (and quite a while of silence after she finished it) gave Dong time to think better about the situation. Head Translator was definitely something her master degree could be used on, and what’s wrong with a young boss? At least she wouldn’t be horrible because she’s so much older and wiser and blah blah blah. The engines inside her brain turned and twitled and (maybe) orange smoke was coming out of her ears.

“Maybe I could give it a try…?”

Kahei squealed, scaring Dong for a second, but then her friend had a smile on her face again. “Awesome, I been talking to Seul about you getting this chance for a few days now, by the way, Seul wants to meet you, ok, focus, you’re totally getting this job and ditching that hellhole! I’m so happy for you! Miss Han Dong, from Wuhan, China, is finally getting the job she deserves! Congrats universe for finally doing things right!”

Dong laughed softly at her friend’s antics. And then she fully laughed. She was exhausted, but laughter releases endorphins, right? And, even though Kahei was three miles away from reality, it didn’t hurt to have some positivity. Dong didn’t have that for the past six months after her boss changed and she was left with some creepy man who hated the fact that she wasn’t korean. But right now, she could laugh and ignore her legs’ muscles complaint, while Kahei typed on her phone, announcing she was already in contact with the CEO because Haseul’s cousin never slept, and probably CEOs don’t sleep either.

They went to bed around two in the morning, Kahei still blabbing about how this was The Greatest Job Ever and Dong with a fluttering heart, job interview scheduled for the next morning (almost noon, thanks again universe) and a slice of hope she had thrown away too long ago.

-

Lee Gahyeon was a woman of many traits. She was smart, quick witted, knew what her place was instead of what men said it was supposed to be, and rich. Gahyeon’s riches weren’t as amazing as she’d like them to be, though. She kept working. Everyday, every night, every afternoon, and every coffee break, if possible. All money she got, she reinvested them in her small but growing publisher. Gahyeon loved books and reading and all the environment that came with them. The smell pages let when you're going through a new book, or the fingers’ marks on old worn-out books that told her several stories.

And there was no one Gahyeon trusted more with her books than Kim Bora, an older person as almost everyone else in the building, but not exactly a sunbae. Gahyeon had graduated a year before Bora and university went on a whim, she was already working on her second company (if you pretend her first company was her father’s) and barely had time to make memories.

For hiring new people, she’d usually ask for Bora’s guidance (or Yeri’s, the publisher’s director), but she was in quite a despair. Bora, her head editor, was taking the job of the head translator as well, the woman was clearly overworked since she also worked at a university giving creative writing classes and a secret job, she told Gahyeon she had, but never named it. In fact, everyone at Dreamcatcher Publishing was overworked, and Gahyeon had the money to hire new people, but nobody wanted to work for a twenty-five-year-old woman. For whatever reason they picked.

Therefore, she stopped asking people for guidance and started doing it alone. It was a hassle, reading all those curriculums, checking their veracity, cutting names out, calling contacts to know if they knew someone who fit and, in the end, a young girl who she used to babysit sent her a curriculum for a head translator at midnight.

At first, it felt like a joke.

Yeojin was known for her silly jokes that caused no physical harm, just boiling anger that dwindled to tired smiles of ‘I wish I could kill you but that’s still a crime’. But no. It was an actual curriculum of an actual person who was actually desperate for a job. She even made a promise that she’d take Gahyeon out if it was a lie, and Im Yeojin never risked her money on anything. So Gahyeon agreed and interviewed the woman.

To say Han Dong was perfect for the job would be an understatement. Miss Han had qualifications for even better jobs, but Gahyeon simply knew she didn’t care about working for something that wasn’t up to her degrees, just by the fact she was working in a restaurant. She interviewed her for twenty minutes (or less), only calling Sana and Minnie to test her abilities on other languages and that was it. Gahyeon couldn’t wait a single more hour without a head translator. She needed Miss Han more than she’d ever say out loud.

Unfortunately, she had to wait a day. Miss Han had to quit her waitressing job, to which Gahyeon offered to drive her to and then back to the publisher. A small shy laugh was a sign that maybe Gahyeon had over stepped but desperate entrepreneurs aren’t to be judged by regular measures. On Wednesday, though, Miss Han said she’d be there. Gahyeon couldn’t stop smiling.

“So, new Head Translator? What about me?” Bora said entering the CEO’s office, hands already on the table and curiosity in her voice.

“Stop whining, Bora, you barely slept the past week because you’ve been working a lot.”

“Maybe… but I like the translating site,” Bora poked Gahyeon’s arm, but the latter stayed completely unfazed. Bora poked, whined, complained and the list could go on, whenever she felt like. Right now, she just wanted to mess with Gahyeon because of their forsaken intimacy as friends and chaebols.

“Then quit the editing site.” Gahyeon said firmly. “You can’t have both.”

“Fine.” Bora sighed, almost defeated, but a new idea bubbled inside her mind. Gahyeon knew this as Bora’s eyes shot open, shining and dangerous. “Is she hot?”

Gahyeon rolled her eyes, trying to contain her panic at the prospects of Bora actually trying to have a go at Miss Han. “Please, don’t sleep with my newest Head Translator. You know it’s hard to get good people to work with us.”

Waving her hand at Gahyeon, Bora turned her back. “I can’t promise anything.”

“For the first time ever, I wish you were married.” Gahyeon said and left Bora behind. Miss Han was supposed to arrive in less than five minutes. She couldn’t let Bora ruin her mood with silly jokes.

As soon as she arrived the elevators, one of them opened and there she was, Gahyeon’s newest savior (not a whole savior, she was being dramatic, but at least one position was occupied and she could worry about other problems), Miss Han walking with a shy smile and doe eyes.

“Welcome to-“

“You've got to be fucking kidding me," Bora cut Gahyeon right away.

"Not this again," Miss Han spoke under her breath.

"I'm assuming that you know each other already?" Gahyeon intervened before something happened.

"We keep meeting," both said, barely looking at each other.

"That's great! You'll be great coworkers I believe! Bora-ssi will explain everything you need to know, since she took care of the translating site. However she's our Editor Chef. Right Bora?"

Bora crossed her arms, eyes going up and down over Dong, while the latter clenched her jaw.

"No. I'm not working with her."

"As expected, Kim Bora," Dong scoffed, combing her hair with her fingers.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Bora barely screamed, putting a finger on Dong's face, "you are the one who keeps following me around! President, you can't hire her, she's a stalker!"

"Stalker?!" Dong half screamed, her body almost moving forward, but she stopped herself. "It's been five years! If I was a stalker we would've met way before."

Gahyeon looked at them, realizing she had walked and now stood between the two women with her hands up. Not the way she planned this meeting to go.

"Can you please stop screaming? I can fire both of you right now," Gahyeon spoke sternly.

Bora tried to answer, but Gahyeon raised a finger over her mouth. Taking a deep breath, she looked around, and, of course, everyone was staring at them. Even if both had screamed, Gahyeon's growing anger was focused on Bora. Bora knew how much Gahyeon needed a Head Translator, Bora knew how much Gahyeon had been working to get new people working with them, Bora knew.

"Please don't fire me," this time, Dong's voice was smaller and desperate, "I need this job, please, I can prove I'm not a stalker if that's the problem, please President Lee, please…"

Gahyeon wasn't a monster, she wasn't going to fire Dong right now. But she wanted to see Bora's reaction, so she gave a weak nod to Dong and looked at her Editor Chef, waiting.

And Gahyeon found Bora staring at Dong, mouth half open and blinking eyes. The woman looked confused, which confused Gahyeon. Did Bora really mean it when she called Dong a stalker? Were they always meeting as they said? What was their deal?

"Why do you always  _ need  _ to stay where I am?" Bora sighed. Gahyeon still was between them, but she felt invisible.

"Why are you always where I need to be?"

"Why don't you go introduce our new Head Translator to the other members?" Gahyeon pleaded.

Somehow, it did the do. Bora took a step back and nodded to Gahyeon, then motioned for Dong to follow her. Everyone in the building stared at them, until Gahyeon cleared her throat and snapped her fingers, reminding them she paid them to work.

She still watched the two women go, Bora pointing to people and probably telling Dong their names instead of letting them introduce themselves (a trait Gahyeon had been fighting with Bora for a change). She watched Dong politely bowing, not knowing if the smile she wore was real or not. And Bora's voice ringing in her mind "she's a stalker."

"Yeri, tell Choi Seungcheol to meet me, please," Gahyeon called the director before entering her office.

"He quitted," Yeri shrugged, "Kim Sojung took his spot, can I call her?"

Gahyeon blinked a few times. She lost one of her few editors and now her Head Lawyer. All in one week. She hoped Dong wasn't a stalker, because she didn't know if she could survive without a Head Translator right now.

Another day, another fight. "Yes, please," she sighed. Today wasn't the day Lee Gahyeon would give up on her dream.


	2. Sixteen-Year-Old Bora Was Better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She should think before acting. It was her third day at Dreamcatcher Publishing, her third day at the very first job in which she could put to use all she learned at university. She couldn’t let Bora push all her buttons and make her lose her temper. She had to stand on her ground and keep her head cool, it’s just Kim Bora doing what she knows best, nothing she wasn’t used to. She could…
> 
> But, unfortunately, being able to do something didn’t mean Dong was going to do it.

"You lied to me."

"About what?"

"About not being a witch!"

Dong said exasperated, while her friend rolled her eyes. Of course, Kahei wouldn't understand Dong's point of view, even if she knew what Kim Bora meant.

"How was I supposed to know that Bora would work at the same place as my girlfriend's cousin's friend?" Kahei spoke as she passed through Netflix, effortlessly ignoring Dong's whines on the couch. "It's just your luck."

"Or the lack of it," Dong groaned. Kahei chuckled, choosing to let the conversation end as she pressed play on some random drama.

It had been two days. Two days working with 30-year-old Kim Bora. Dong didn’t expect Bora to be much different, just more mature? However, if it was possible, Bora was even worse than she used to be when they were teenagers. Or young adults. Or children. Dong didn’t know why, but here she was, pretending to watch a drama, while Bora was the only thing in her mind because they were once again forced to work together by destiny.

Today Dong had come straight from work to Kahei’s because she wanted to groan and complain to someone who could understand her pain, but found out, after a brief conversation, that Kahei didn’t understand Dong’s pain properly. But did anyone? Whenever Dong was sure Bora hated her, they were the only people around. And even when Dong thought Bora was getting out of hate with her, destiny made sure she was wrong.

The night left and morning came and Dong found herself at Dreamcatcher Publishing, sending silent prayers to a few gods. Any entity would be of great help.

As usual, Dong’s only great problem was Bora’s distaste for her presence. The translating site had five people counting with her, and they were extremely nice to Dong. Sana and Minnie, the two girls who helped President Lee during Dong’s interview, made sure to introduce Dong to everyone and explain how everything worked.

And they had work. A lot of work.

The publisher had their own site for webtoons and ebooks, focusing more on the first. More than half of their authors weren’t koreans and, as Junhui, one of the translators who, like Dong, was chinese but grew up in South Korea, explained, a lot of their readers weren’t from Korea either. A map marked the countries in which their website had been accessed and it marked basically the whole world. Though they had korean, mandarin, thai, japanese and english as available languages, President Lee mentioned they were planning on adding german and portuguese. Also, having only one person per language wasn’t the ideal, and now there were two people for each language. Because Dong knew them all. She was supposed to review their translations and approve them. All of it.

If she just had the login and password to access the intranet, she could face all the loads of work. But, of course, it was her third day and the previous Head Translator still withheld that information from her.

“Do you want me to ask her?” Kim Yoohyeon, the only korean in the translating team and the one responsible for the english (and some korean grammar), spoke cautiously.

“I’ll do it,” Dong sighed.

“Really, Dong-ssi, I can totally do it. It would be no bother at all!” Yoohyeon tried again, receiving a raised eyebrow from Dong.

“I know what you’re doing, but that’s something I have to do,” Dong said and got up, knowing that if she stayed, Yoohyeon would run towards Bora before she could do anything to stop her.

Not that both sites were far, in fact, there was probably a meter or less separating them. Sites were, actually, long tables with computers, books and invisible divisions between the people working there. Both being the heads of their sites, they sat at the end of the table, in order to have a better view of their members. For Dong to get to Bora, she could just roll her chair to the Editing table.

Obviously, rolling a chair would be too anticlimactic for Dong, that’s why she stood up and walked five steps, crossed her arms and called:

“Editor Chief Kim.”

Bora yawned, almost rolling her eyes and looked at Dong.

“Yes, Head Translator Han?”

“I need the login and password for the intranet."

“Ah, you need to request one from Director Kim.”

“I did, and she told me, in front of you, that you should give me yours because everything is already there." Dong's voice dripped with fake politeness, allowing an equally fake smile to adorn her face after finishing.

Bora looked at Dong with a smile just as fake, standing up, their faces at the same level because Bora was wearing heels. “I’ll log you in then.”

She should think before acting. It was her third day at Dreamcatcher Publishing, her third day at the very first job in which she could put to use all she learned at university. She couldn’t let Bora push all her buttons and make her lose her temper. She had to stand on her ground and keep her head cool, it’s just Kim Bora doing what she knows best, nothing she wasn’t used to. She could…

But, unfortunately, being able to do something didn’t mean Dong was going to do it.

“No,” Dong held Bora by the arm, as the woman tried to walk past her, “you’re going to give me the login and password information.”

Bora scoffed, setting her arm free, but Dong stayed in front of her, stopping Bora from arriving at the translating site.

“I’m supposed to teach you how to do this work, I’m not going to simply set you free on your third day,” Bora replied, crossing her arms under her chest, “I know it’s very different from working at a coffee shop, but you’ll get the hunch of how it is to work at an actual company with time.”

“What will I do if I’m working overtime and you’re not here? Call you in the middle of the night as if you’d answer me?” Dong hissed.

“Hm…” Bora tapped her chin with a finger, but Dong could see clearly that she wasn’t thinking, just putting a show. “Maybe you shouldn’t work so hard, eventually you will be fired for your stalking credential.”

“I am not- “ Dong took a deep breath, closing and opening her fists, but looking at Bora’s contentment was going to make her lose it. “Your job is to _help_ me. Not to get me _fired_ for not being able to do my job. This isn’t- “

“If you thought I was going to make anything easy for you, then those five years made you dumb,” Bora scoffed, “I’ll log you in until I say so. Take it or quit already.”

That was it. The moment Dong’s brain had been waiting for. That second of white anger in which words leave your mouth and you can barely remember what they were.

“Is this how you teach now? Keeping people on leashes and hovering over their backs to make sure everything is like Perfect Queen Kim Bora wants?” It was Dong who scoffed this time, not realizing her voice was getting louder. “Sixteen-year-old Bora was a better teacher than now.”

“Sixteen-year-old Bora didn’t know she was dealing with a lifelong stalker!” Bora raised the volume of her voice a bit more than Dong’s.

Of course, Dong would raise her voice a little more.

“As if I’d ever waste my time going after _you!”_

“Then tell me why I’ve spent my whole life dealing with your presence around me?! I was here first! Like everywhere else!”

“Oh please, don’t act as if me falling at the same places as you wasn’t a torture for me as well, _sunbae-nim_ ,” Dong spit the honorific like she was cleaning someone’s snake bite.

“Torture? I wasn’t the one trying to steal your- “

“What is going on here?”

President Lee interrupted Bora; her face contorted with anger. Dong physically forced herself to stop killing Bora with her eyes and moved her gave to President Lee who surprisingly was taller than her. She blinked a few times, downing on her that she and Bora had been screaming in the middle of the office, every single person there was staring at them.

“Will I have to repeat myself?” Silence. Dong froze. She wasn’t looking at Bora, but by her silence she was probably in the same state. “What’s going on here?!” President Lee half shouted, closing her eyes to inhale and exhale and Dong started to wonder if her ex-boss would take her back. “Why are two of my most important Heads screaming in the middle of the office like two horny teenagers?”

“She’s a stalker!” Bora… whined? Did Dong hear right? She looked at the Editor Chief with mouth half open.

“I am not a stalker,” Dong’s voice was weak from the earlier surprise, but she couldn’t not defend herself.

“Yes, you- “

“So, you just decided to solve this right now? As if there was no job to be done?” President Lee said while running her fingers through her hair, sighing heavily through gritted teeth.

“I just wanted the login and password for the intranet. Director Kim said Editor Kim should give me the one she was using because it’s already connected to the accounts of everyone and it would be easier. She also said they are different from each site, so it wouldn’t be a problem to Editor Kim since she utilizes a different login for the editing site, but she refused to give it to me.”

Dong finished her mini rant and took a deep breath; unaware she spoke so fast she forgot to breath. President Lee sighed again, Dong was ready to be called out (or fired), but the woman turned to Bora with a bored expression.

“Write the login and password, now.”

Bora complained again, not mentioning how Dong was only there for three days, as she did before. This could only mean that Bora had no right to be saying that stuff. But, with complaints and grunts and groans, Bora wrote it on a post-it, handed it to Dong in front of everyone, but especially in front of their CEO, and she finally went back to work.

Accidentally, Dong made eye contact with one of the editors (there were only two of them, she had heard that one of the editors had quitted the day before she started working there) and he smiled apologetically at her. And then Dong felt ashamed of their little fight. They were adults, they should act like such.

But weren’t they always like that? Weren’t they always shouting over little things? Making a mess of nothing and causing a scene. Dong couldn’t say it was all Bora’s fault, it was more like 50/50. She looked at Bora one more time, before sitting down and trying to work again.

Fortunately, before her brain could dwell on Bora and their complex past, work arrived. Her Thai was rusty from lack of usage and there were three chapters to be read and analyzed. And when that was done, there was something else. And then something else. And then it was night time, Dong was destroyed, her brain half working from the multiple changes of language. Denying the calls to go out from Yoohyeon and Junhui, Dong went home, and slept early for the first time in almost a year.

━━━━━━━━━━

The week passed with little to no incidents. Which means they didn’t get to interact much, but whenever they had to speak to each other, it always ended up with rash words and Bora praising Dong’s stalking abilities. Dong wasn’t proud of saying that every time the word ‘stalker’ left Bora’s mouth, she lost all her adulthood and turned into an offended teenager. It didn’t help that it was _Bora_. If it were anyone else, really, any fucking person, Dong would be able to act properly. But she had a lot of tension and words she never let out, all directed to the woman working with her.

“For a stalker, you’re horrible with the internet,” Bora spoke, announcing one of Dong’s newest mistakes.

“I am not- “

“Yes, yes, I already heard that,” the dismissal seemed to have been a poke into Dong’s internal monster, but Yoohyeon looked at her with pleading eyes, and she swallowed her snarky answer.

To their surprise, Bora started explaining what Dong had done wrong and how she should do it. It was probably the first time Bora didn't pick up a fight and left without being of any help. Maybe it was the exhaustion, after all it was friday and everyone was at their strength's end, or Bora happened to be in a good mood. Either way, Dong took advantage of it, learning as much as she could.

Like during their high school years.

"So, how much of history do you guys have?" Sana asked while waiting for the food.

It was a friday and Dong needed a drink. Plus, she needed to get to know her team members better. Now, they were at a regular bar, work attire loose and alcohol in their glasses.

"A lot?" Dong shrugged. She never put much thought on how long she had known Bora unless it was thrown in her face. For example, whenever Bora called her 'stalker'.

"A lot is…" Junhui moved his hands, indicating he wanted more info. Dong chuckled; she knew that by monday everyone from work would know every word she shared.

"Sixteen years?" She looked up, counting invisible numbers. "I was thirteen, she was fourteen, so, yeah, sixteen years. But this is the first time we met after she finished her major."

"That's a lot," Sana offered.

"I know. I said that,” Dong took a sip of her drink, trying to convey how uncomfortable she was with the subject.

Apparently, her members didn’t really care about it though.

“Why does she call you a stalker, though? We never see you looking in her direction if you don’t need to,” Minnie asked, but didn’t look at Dong, she kept organizing her glass and dish for at least the fifth time.

The only way out of this conversation would be literally running away from them, causing a horrible stretch to their fresh work relationship. Dong considered lying, because she didn’t want her true Dong-Bora story to be broadly spread around the office, however she also knew that the moment Bora heard her lies, she’d go down. Also, no matter how many questions she’d answer, they’d have more coming. She regretted not going home.

Sighing, Dong tried to be nonchalant about this. If she could pretend this meant nothing, then they might believe it means nothing.

“We went to the same elementary school,” she shrugged, nursing the alcohol in her glass, “and then we met again at the same high school. And then we met again at university. We just… kept meeting, and now we met again, just this time it took five years, not the usual ‘one year apart’. And, as you might have noticed, we never had the best relationship,” as she finished, she downed her drink.

Somehow, the atmosphere got sad. When Dong looked at her members after putting her glass back on the table, they had their glasses on their hands and a pitiful look in their eyes.

“Let’s drink to life’s shitty games then!” Junhui spoke with a fake smile, Yoohyeon already pouring more soju for Dong.

After two more shots, the food arrived and the subject of Dong and Bora was forgotten. Junhui relished on pestering Minnie about some Miyeon girl, and Minnie would attack him back saying something about a Minghao boy. When asked about who those people were, Sana replied as “their crushes who are in love with them as well, but none have the balls to do something about it,” the last words she screamed at them. It caused a small mayhem, Junhui saying he was _planning_ on doing something, while Minnie screamed that yes, she was a coward, and what about it?!

Yoohyeon, beside Dong, laughed, but didn’t get herself involved in any of it. And they didn’t force her either. The woman spent her time eating, drinking and laughing at her colleagues’ silliness. It lasted for one hour, until Sana and Jun (as he requested not to be called Junhui out of work places, it made him feel old) started to make sexual jokes, but never finished them. Whenever they’d start speaking, Minnie would fake cough and stop mid sentence and change topics.

It went this way until Yoohyeon groaned loudly in the middle of one of Minnie’s fake coughs, making four stop talking (this time, it was Dong who had initiated a slightly mature conversation) and stare at her.

“Just because I am ace, doesn’t mean I can’t handle a sex joke. Just talk freely, please, I can’t take anymore of Minnie’s coughs. _Please_ ,” she dragged the last word, while pretending to scratch her neck.

“You sure?” Jun whispered.

“Yes, Junhui-ssi, I am.”

“Ew, don’t call me that,” he frowned and showed his tongue afterwards.

“Then don’t baby me.”

“We won’t!” Sana smiled, “but now I will talk about giving people head without problem.”

“As long as it isn’t during work,” Dong intervened, as Yoohyeon blushed at mention of oral. It was laughable, how Yoohyeon went from proudly saying she could handle sex talk to blushing hard when it was openly mentioned. Dong could only think of how cute she looked, with red puffed cheeks, drinking some more soju to pretend she wasn’t embarrassed.

“Not during work,” Minnie promised with a raised hand.

“Dong-nim is right, you do look cute,” Sana ignored Minnie’s promise and spoke looking at Yoohyeon, making both Dong and Yoohyeon choke on their drinks.

“Did I say it out loud?!” Yoohyeon nodded, blushing harder than before. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to emb- “

“Pff,” Sana dismissed Dong’s apologies before Yoohyeon could open her mouth, “you’re drunk, she’s drunk, everybody’s drunk. Just don’t do anything stupid. Calling someone cute isn’t stupid. Is it stupid?”

“Nope,” Minnie said while Jun denied with his head. “Especially when it’s true! Yoo is adorable! But she never lets me pinch her cheeks,” Minnie’s expression was the sad emoji, and Jun laughed at her, pinching her cheeks.

“It hurts,” Yoohyeon whined.

“But can I kiss them?” Sana wiggled her eyebrows.

Unexpectedly, Yoohyeon leaned forwards and showed Sana her right cheek. The latter squealed, holding Yoohyeon’s face with her hands and giving it several kisses before a long kiss, finally releasing her prey. Dong thought she’d see a grumping Yoohyeon, but instead, the woman smiled, content to be showered with friendly kisses.

After the kissing session, it didn’t take long for them to leave. Jun had stopped talking and only smiled or nodded to anything. In fact, the only word he spoke was “Minghaaaaaao”, making Minnie cringe and whine about her drunk roommate. Sana and Yoohyeon shared a cab, they didn’t live together, but in the same building. And Dong finally left for her home sweet home.

She couldn’t wait to have forty-eight hours Bora-free. No fighting, no screaming, no name calling, no past burning on her skin like a piece of coal. No old promises she made to herself five years ago as she watched Bora close the door of Dong’s bedroom.

━━━━━━━━━━

_Hey! This is Bora! Sorry I can't answer right now, but I'll check my inbox as soon as I can! You know what to do!_

"Bora, hi, it's Gahyeon. I know it's almost three in the morning of a saturday, but after all the mess this week was, I had to let you know as soon as possible. I asked Sojung, our lawyer, to check Dong's past and turns out she isn't a stalker. We saw that you studied together, but there isn't any trace of persecution or- "

_Hey! This is Bora! Sorry I can't answer right now, but I'll check my inbox as soon as I can! You know what to do!_

"The timing of those things are so short?! Anyways, she didn't track you down, you guys just ended up wanting the same things I guess? Same schools, same universities, same department, same job. I mean, the job was more of Yeojin's magic, do you remember Yeojin? You're noisy like her- "

_Hey! This is Bora! Sorry I can't answer right now, but I'll check my inbox as soon as I can! You know what to do!_

"Ugh! I hate this. Fine. Now I'm saying goodbye. But. You need to stop telling everyone Dong stalked you for years, ok? And maybe apologize to her? That's the bare minimum, but taking your family history bare minimum is hard for you guys lol. I'm going now! See you on monday! Bye!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> twitter: jiboyuna

**Author's Note:**

> twitter: jiboyuna


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